Let Her Eat Cake! Ashley McBryde Switches Up Her Breakfast Menu to Celebrate Her CMA Awards Win

Ashley McBryde caught some extra shut-eye on Wednesday morning — resting up for her big CMA awards night — but her five nominations were the furthest thing from her mind when she woke up to a text from her pal Carly Pearce.

"We live in kind of the same area, and I thought maybe one of the dogs got out and maybe I could help," McBryde recounted to PEOPLE on the red carpet. (Pearce famously owns a Shih Tzu brother and sister, Johnny and June.)

In fact, Pearce, 32, was telling McBryde, 39, that they now shared a CMA award for musical event of the year, one of four nominations attached to their No. 1 duet, "Never Wanted to Be That Girl." The award is one of two traditionally announced the morning of the show.

Yes, McBryde revealed, she squealed when she read the news. And then her next impulse was to change her breakfast plans.

"It's gonna be such a long day, and I thought, I'll mix some oatmeal," she explained, "and instead I ate a piece of red velvet cake because it felt like the right time to celebrate."

Check out PEOPLE's full CMAs coverage to get the latest news on country music's biggest night.

The CMA award is McBryde's second; she also won new artist of the year in 2020. This year she also was nominated for female artist, music video, single and song of the year.

On Wednesday night, she also seized the spotlight as a performer, sharing the stage with Brandy Clark, Pillbox Patti and Caylee Hammack to sing "When Will I Be Loved." The Everly Brothers hit, famously covered by Linda Ronstadt, appears on McBryde's new concept album, Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, which Clark and Nicolette Hayford (aka Pillbox Patti) helped write with McBryde.

McBryde assembled a group of her favorite collaborators to create the mythical small town and inhabit it with characters in the spirit of the colorful lyrics of Dennis Linde, who wrote "Goodbye Earl" and "Bubba Shot the Jukebox." The fanciful album, which even includes original radio jingles, has been earning critical raves, but McBryde knows it's not for everyone.

"I have been in love with everybody's reaction because there will be some folks that just don't get it or care to, and that's OK," she said. "But Jake Owen just stopped me [on the red carpet] and said, 'Man, I love the new record.' And it just makes me happy to know that even my peers are listening to it and having a good time."